Controlling Your Weight and Eating Responsibly

There's no denying it: trying to lose weight can be a long and challenging journey. If you've ever tried and failed to lose weight before then you probably know just how frustrating it can be - especially when feelings like stress, low self-esteem, sadness and boredom crop up.

It's not unusual for people to get into a cycle of dieting, overeating, feeling guilty and dieting again. This is known as 'yoyo dieting' and makes weight loss difficult to sustain. While fad diets and nutrition plans focus on what you put in your mouth and how often, hypnotherapy changes how you feel about what you eat. For instance - on a diet you might eat a carrot and wish you were eating a carrot cake, but with hypnotherapy you can learn to enjoy the carrot and not give that cake a second thought. It might be hard to imagine a world where you'd happily turn down your favourite food for something healthier, but with certain hypnotherapy techniques it may be possible to change your thinking patterns and gain control over cravings in a way that doesn't depress you.

By targeting the unconscious mind with powerful suggestion techniques, through hypnosis, we will help you develop a new, positive relationship with food and exercise. The aim is to make you feel confident about your body, change any negative thoughts about eating and help you lose weight healthily and responsibly without impacting your emotional well being.

How does hypnotherapy for weight loss work? Hypnotherapy for weight loss is becoming increasingly accepted and, as more people give it a go - more popular. Only recently has hypnotherapy for weight loss been given the credit it deserves. The idea of hypnosis is still met with scepticism due to misconceptions about what it is. It is useful to know that during hypnosis you will not be out of control, be asleep, be told to do anything you don't want to do, have your memory erased, or be forced to reveal your deepest darkest secrets. Hypnotherapy is not some occult art - you won't be prized open and exploited by hypnosis; you will remain in control throughout your sessions.

So how does hypnotherapy for weight loss work?

In hypnotherapy we coach clients. I will guide you into a state of deep relaxation.

Once your body and mind are in relaxation mode (much like a daydream), I will be able to access your unconscious mind (the part of us that works all the time but that we're not necessarily aware of i.e. innate instincts and survival mechanisms).

Soothing, carefully worded scripts can be used to explore a client's reasons for overeating and suggest new ways of thinking through visualisations. You have the control to reject any suggestions you don't feel happy with without any guidance from hypnosis.

Over time you will learn how to replace your negative habits and eating patterns with positive ones suggested through hypnosis. One of the most commonly asked questions in hypnotherapy consultations is - will hypnotherapy work for me? The answer to that is it's hard to know until you try it yourself. While it certainly won't work in the same way for everyone, the process of talking about developing good habits and getting rid of bad habits should help plant a new level of awareness when it comes to food and exercise. Hypnotherapy was classed as an 'effective' treatment for weight loss according to the Chambless & Hollen (1998) criteria for 'empirically-supported treatments' following a review of conditions.